In a bold pre-election gambit, Queensland opposition leader David Crisafulli has vowed to hold his future cabinet ministers to account by setting them public key performance indicators (KPIs) – and demoting those who fail to measure up. But while the Liberal National Party (LNP) leader touts the plan as a way to deliver “a better government”, some experts caution the KPI approach could backfire by distorting priorities and incentivizing shortcuts.
Ministers to Face Consequences for Missing Targets
With the Queensland election just days away and polls suggesting the LNP has a strong chance of ousting Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s Labor government, Crisafulli is already laying out his leadership style. Central to his pitch is a promise that cabinet ministers in an LNP government will each be issued a “ministerial charter letter” containing a public KPI.
“Ministers will be given tasks to deliver, and that means that Queenslanders will see a better government,” Crisafulli declared on Thursday. The opposition leader said ministers who don’t hit their targets will face a stark consequence – demotion to the backbench and out of cabinet.
Crisafulli Stakes Premiership on Crime Reduction
In a dramatic gesture, Crisafulli has also effectively staked his own political future on a highly specific KPI. The would-be premier has pledged to resign at the end of his first term if the number of crime victims, as measured by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, isn’t lower than the 2023 tally of 289,657.
While the vow may be a savvy political tactic to neutralize Labor’s attacks on the LNP’s law and order credentials, criminology experts suggest the metric could prove problematic as a yardstick for government performance.
“There is a risk of relying too much on initiatives to ‘reduce victims’ while giving less focus and attention to serious offences that are more difficult to immediately reduce.”
– Dr William Wood, Criminologist, Griffith University
Potential Pitfalls of Government by KPI
While holding ministers accountable for outcomes has an intuitive appeal, governance experts warn that KPIs can sometimes do more harm than good in a public sector context. Rather than driving genuine performance improvements, poorly designed targets can encourage gaming and “teaching to the test”.
“This is what every public servant knows: when you have a minister who is fiercely focused on a target, the target and the measurement becomes the policy.”
– Associate Professor Alastair Stark, Public Policy Expert, University of Queensland
Stark suggests KPIs tend to incentivize “achieving outputs” rather than meaningfully improving the actual outcomes experienced by citizens. He argues the policy risks saddling public servants with “jumping through hoops” to meet arbitrary benchmarks.
A Risky Political Gambit?
Political analysts also point out that by nailing his colors so firmly to the accountability mast, Crisafulli is taking a calculated risk. With the LNP running a “small target” campaign light on detailed policies, the KPIs provide rare specifics for opponents to later attack the would-be government over.
“[I]f you do get into government [and] you haven’t built a broad based mandate full of policies that have had the support of the electorate? Queensland election abortion debate: it’s what David Crisafulli is not saying that matters most.”
– Dr Adam Hannah, Political Scientist, University of Queensland
Hannah notes that failure to live up to KPI promises could provide potent ammunition for opponents to “replay in a campaign ad in a few years’ time, very, very, very easily.” This risk may be especially acute for an LNP still seeking to define itself as “not the Newman government” that lasted only a single term.
High Stakes as Queensland Heads to Polls
As Queenslanders prepare to cast their ballots, Crisafulli is gambling that his accountability pitch will help propel the LNP back into power after years in the political wilderness. But if an LNP government fails to move the needle on its KPIs, restive backbenchers like the conservative firebrand Amanda Stoker could be waiting in the wings.
According to party insiders, moderate LNP figures already harbor concerns about Stoker’s ambitions. “Watch Sky News After Dark promote her to Premier-in-Waiting at the first sign of any trouble,” one LNP member quipped.
The Queensland election may be Crisafulli’s to lose – but if the accountability gambit misfires, his biggest KPI risk could be his own political survival. As voters head to the polls, only one thing is certain: the sunshine state is headed for a suspenseful election night.
